"Well, well, well... what do we have here?" a strange voice says. Mia looks up to find a drunk man in the alleyway with her staring at her with interest, Mia starts feeling uneasy and disgusted. "What do you want?" Mia asks trying to sound brave meanwhile she's shaking on the inside. "Calm down baby girl I just want us to have a little fun, you like fun things right ?" The strange man slurs out.
"No, I don't like fun. Now excuse me I have to go" Mia gets up from the cold ground and tries to walk past the man but he grabs her elbow and drags her back towards him. "Where the hell do you think you're going, I'm not done with you yet" feeling scared Mia began to panic, she started looking around frantically for something she could use to defend herself. The strange man grabbed her roughly and pushed her against the wall, Mia began screaming and thrashed violently against the man but all her efforts seemed futile. "Stop moving you bitch" the man growled out. But Mia didn't stop she kept struggling and then suddenly what she didn't expect to ever happen to her happened, the man punched her on the face and the impact was so strong that she fell to the ground holding her head as her vision was becoming blurry, but Mia willed herself to stay awake and fight so she looked around one more time for something to help her and then she saw a rock and immediately she grabbed it, as she grabbed the rock the man jumped on her pinned her to the ground but Mia wasn't ready to give up so she hit the man in his eye with so much force that her tiny body could muster and the brute immediately let go of her as he screamed and struggled to gain his balance. Mia immediately took advantage of his disheveled state and ran out of the alley. "Come back here you little bitch, I'm gonna get you for this!!!" the man screamed but Mia was long gone and all she could think about was why all these bad things were happening to her.
----------------------2 YEARS LATER------------------
Mia, now 10years old on a rainy night on the bustling streets of East Harlem barely survives by stealing scraps of food and trying to avoid getting into trouble as much as possible.
As Mia walks on the streets late at night, she catches sight of a nicely dressed gentleman standing in front of a food stall so she walks towards the man and pretends to be interested in the food on display in the stall then she sneaks her hand into the gentleman's pocket and grabs his wallet and then she tries to leave but before she could leave the gentleman grabs Mia by her hand "Where do you think you're going with my wallet you little thief?" Mia is startled at how quickly she was caught, then the stall owner comes around and starts screaming at Mia and threatens to call the police on her, immediately Mia knew she had to think of something fast to get her out of this situation. "No, no please sir, I'm so sorry I'm just really hungry and have nothing to eat please don't call the cops, I promise I won't do it again" Mia tries to convince them and she even went as far as forcing fake tears to come out of her eyes. Seeing Mia so distressed the two men decided to let Mia go, they felt sorry for her. The stall owner even gave her some food to take with her. "Thank you so so much sir, you've just saved a life" Mia wipes her fake tears and walks away, the moment her back was turned to the men a triumphant smile creeped unto her face as she digs into the food she just acquired.
Hiding in an alley enjoying her newly acquired dinner, Mia was having a blissful moment until some commotion happening nearby caught her attention. She peeps out of her hiding spot and then she catches sight of a very handsome man who seemed to be in his late 40's, but he wasn't alone he had company. Mia didn't understand what was going on but based on the strange man's rigid posture the people around him weren't his friends. Mia's assumptions were confirmed the moment one of the men tried to attack the man but he was too fast for him and then he immediately knocked him out with ease, the others almost immediately started attacking the strange man, each trying to weaken him but they were no match for him cause he was too fast and strong for them. When the stranger had beat each and everyone of them to a pulp and was standing over one of the men asking him who sent him, he didn't realize that someone was behind him and the person had pulled out their gun aiming it at the strange man, all these time Mia had been watching everything unfold from her hiding spot so she had seen the attacker, Mia grabbed a broken bottle from the floor and immediately threw it at the attacker causing him to loose focus, this grabs the strangers attention and he immediately acts fast by pulling out his gun and shooting the attacker right between his eyes.
The stranger looks towards where Mia was hiding all along and then Mia pulls out a pocket knife and points it towards the strange man "Stay away from me or else I'll hurt you" The man was amused to say the least, he tucked his gun back into his holster and raised his hands up in surrender. "It's okay little girl, I'm not gonna hurt you" "But you hurt those men" Mia says, "Those men are bad people piccolina" (little one) "so how do I know you're not a bad man" The stranger was quite intrigued by Mia's bravery. "What are you doing here on the streets all alone, aren't you supposed to be home with your family?" he ignores her previous question completely, Mia notices this but she doesn't say anything about it cause somehow this man makes her feel safe which is weird considering the circumstances they met.
"I don't have a home" came Mia's reply. "And why is that?" the man asks but Mia doesn't say anything, she just stares at the stranger. "Okay well my name is Vincenzo, Vincenzo Romano what's yours?" he asks. "My name is Mia Knight". "Okay Mia Knight it's a pleasure to meet you, I'd like to make you a deal" "Likewise, now what's this deal about" Mia asks. "Well Mia, you obviously have nowhere to go and you just saved my life so I'd like to return the favor by giving you a roof over your head, I can give you a better life" Vincenzo reasons with Mia. "No offense Mr Vincenzo but I don't trust you so why the hell will I follow you anywhere" Mia spits back at him, she takes on a guarded stance as she stares at him. Vincenzo takes note of her stance and immediately a smile comes to his face cause he recognizes that she may have potential. "Listen to me piccolina, if I was going to hurt you I'd have done it already, I have a gun and you have a knife think about it you're on the loosing end. I don't want to hurt you, if I did I wouldn't be giving you an option to follow me so what's it gonna be?" Vincenzo tries to again to reason with Mia. The wheels begin to turn in Mia's head as she weighs her options, to be honest she doesn't really have anything to loose so she might as well go with him. "Fine I'll come with you" Vincenzo then smiles at Mia's answer "Excellent bella, you've made an excellent choice" "Ugh first of all my name isn't Bella, it's Mia" she says sassily. Vincenzo only chuckles and shakes his head as he turns around and walks away.
"Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, where are you going?" Mia asks. "Well my house isn't on this alley now is it?" Vincenzo asks with sarcasm dripping from his voice. Mia makes a funny face behind him but immediately keeps her face normal once Vincenzo turns around, he narrows his eyes at her "What were you doing" he asks, "Nothingggg" Mia replies, "Hmmm" Vincenzo only hums. "Alright then let's get off these streets, it isn't safe" Vincenzo guides Mia towards a very flashy limousine, the moment she gets into the car and sets eyes on the inside of the car her jaws literally hit the ground. "Close your mouth, you don't want flies to get in now do you" embarrassed, Mia shut her mouth and admires the interior quietly. "So where are we going" Mia asks. "We're going to my home so you can meet my family" Mia chews on her lips nervously as she looks out the window onto the busy streets. "What's wrong picollo?" he asks Mia, "Nothing" comes her reply, Vincenzo just raises an eyebrow showing that he's not buying it. "It's just that I haven't been around an actual family in a while so I'm nervous" Vincenzo sighs in understanding and his expression softens as he looks at her. "I understand but there's nothing to worry about, they won't bite babygirl so just relax" Mia just nods her head, she relaxes as her nerves begin to calm down. She just stares out the window as she waits to meet his family.